Calliope - In The Arms Of Morpheus

Chapter 8

"Greetings, sister Erato," Calliope stepped in front of the platform with the large divan in the middle of Erato's incense clouded audience room.
Muscular legs with thick blond hair stretched from the jumble of sheets, before an equally blond head emerged between her sister's legs.
"You can go now, Palladius. You'll know how to paint the vestibule, once you stand in front of your empty wall." Erato didn't bother to cover her naked breast, she only grabbed a pillow to sit more erect in order to look down onto Thalia and Calliope.
The young man straightened his chiton. "Ffankf..." he mumbled, placed a pouch filled with coins on the steps and scurried away.
Thalia giggled. "He pays you for this?"
"Of course." Erato stretched her arm to the pouch, peeked inside and smiled, before she put it down. "This is how I bestow my inspiration onto him. You must know this, dear Sister. It's always done orally."
Thalia stifled another giggle. "We've heard you had a guest, this afternoon." He voice was far too sweet, her hands innocently folded behind her back.
"I'm pretty sure you also witnessed my audience, dear sister. There is no place, except maybe the latrine, where you do not spy on your siblings."
Thalia's skin turned pink.
Erato's heavy lidded gaze landed on Calliope. "And you, youngest sister, where have you been? You look flustered."
"I uh..." If Calliope told her how important Hippolitos was to her, she would use him against her. How to open this conversation that it would turn in her favor?
"How did you like my guest today, Calliope?" Erato went on, and took a sip from her wine.
Good, she had dropped the subject for a worse one. "I...well-" Heat crept from Calliope's neck up to her chin. "Uh, okay, I guess... he must be old..."
Thalia giggled again and shook her hips. "I like me some old men. For his age, he looks okay and..."
Okay? He was stunning!
" ...and probably quite rich, if he can conjure anything he wants. They say with the help of his ruby, the Endless can bring things from dreams into the real world."
Oh the wily girl, now she controlled where the conversation went.
"Speaking of, I found the pegasos I dreamed of last, night in the woods." Thalia beamed.
Panic shot through Calliope's body. "No! I did!"
Erato rose an eyebrow.
Calliope tried to calm her racing heart by breathing slowly - and failed. "I found him near the sacred well. He's mine. The Endless gave it to me."
"That is not true!" Thalia perked up, "He's exactly the one I dreamed of last night! The Endless must have taken it from my dream to woo me with it!"
Erato tilted her head. "Is that so?"
"No, Thalia, you are wrong." Calliope wrung her hands, forcing herself to take calming breaths to keep the heat from rising past her cheekbones. "I met him. He told me that Hippolitos needed a protector, and gave him to me."
One side of Erato's lips curled. "No." She sat up and looked directly at them. "He is mine."
Thalia looked up, mouth agape. "Yours?"
"He was meant to be my gift." She stretched her long legs and slipped her feet into her sandals to rise from the divan. Her golden dress fell close and flowed perfectly around her curves. "I see, this is a cause for distress for the both of you. So I will rule that no one will get the pegasos."
Thalia balled her hands into fists, her cheeks aflame, her brows furrowed. "You can't-"
Erato could, and maybe it was for the best, if no-one owned Hippolitos. He would be free, just like he was meant to.
Erato nodded. "Surely, I can. To end this discussion, hear my verdict." She rose to her full height and towered above them. "This creature, taken from a dream, will be sent back to its giver, where it belongs. It is the perfect sacrifice to the Gods for the inauguration."
"No!" Calliope cried and noticed the same panic in Thalia's wide eyes.
Erato's hot glare turned icy. "That will teach you to settle your childish disputes."

(If you are ready to know how Morpheus is leisurely, vote first, then go and read the next chapter.)